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Former Pakistan president Musharraf faces treason trial

Pakistan's former leader Pervez Musharraf faces treason trial after the case was adjourned over a bomb scare.

Pakistan's former military ruler Pervez Musharraf is due to face trial for treason, a week after the case was adjourned because of a bomb scare.

The 70-year-old stands accused over his imposition of emergency rule in November 2007, but he and his legal team have dismissed the charge as politically motivated.

Conviction could mean the death penalty or life imprisonment for Mr Musharraf, who has faced a series of criminal cases since returning from self-imposed exile in March last year.

He is the first former army chief to go on trial in Pakistan, setting up a potentially destabilising clash between the government - which brought the charges - and the all-powerful military.

Mr Musharraf denounced the treason case as a "vendetta" against him and claimed he had the backing of the military.

"I would say the whole army is upset. I have led the army from the front," he said.

"I have no doubt with the feedback that I received that the whole army is... totally with me on this issue."

There has been no public comment on the case from the army, but some observers say they are reluctant to have their former chief suffer the indignity of trial in a civilian court.

The Taliban have made repeated threats to kill the man who led Pakistan into its alliance with Washington's "war on terror", and security for the hearing in Islamabad will be tight.

The treason case is the latest in a series of criminal cases faced by Mr Musharraf since he returned to Pakistan in a thwarted bid to run in the upcoming general election in May.

These include murder charges over the assassination in late 2007 of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The treason case was due to start on Dec 24 but had to be delayed after police found explosives and a detonator on Mr Musharraf's route to court.

A second scare came on Monday when more explosives were found on the same road.

It is unclear who left either set of explosives, which were not made up into bombs.

In a similar mysterious episode early last year, a car with explosives stuffed into its doors and seats was found near Mr Musharraf's farmhouse on the same day he appeared in court over the Bhutto case.

The former commando's lawyers have dismissed the charges as an attempt by the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whom Mr Musharraf ousted in a coup in 1999, to settle old scores through the courts.

They have urged the United Nations to intervene in what they call a "stage-managed show trial" and have asked London and Washington to "repay their debt" for Mr Musharraf's support in the wake of the 9/11 attacks.